My fitness journey! The good, the bad, and the chocolate!

Monthly Archives: May 2018

Another Friday is upon us! How are these weeks going by so fast. We are on the edge of summer…unless you live in a place like Houston where it is already breaking 100 degrees with the heat index! Bring on pool days!I actually am a person who doesn’t mind the heat for the most part. I will take it over freezing cold weather anyway. Just give me a spot on the beach and I am a happy girl.

Since it has been so hot I decided to whip together some of my favorite ingredients into a sweet and tangy cold salad. I am linking up with my fav Foodie Friday gals, Farrah from Fairyburger and Annmarie from the Fit Foodie Mama for a salad themed week.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, cooked, cooled and cubed

1/4 gala apple, chopped

1/3 cup chopped mango

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 avocado, cubed

Sprinkle of crumbled goat cheese

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp avocado oil

Directions

Place chicken, apple, mango, walnuts and avocado in a bowl, gently stir together.

In a separate bowl blend the balsamic vinegar and avocado oil together. Drizzle over the chicken mixture. Gently stir in.

Top with desired amount of goat cheese.

Enjoy alone or atop a bed of greens or in a wrap!

Make sure you check out all the amazing ladies and their awesome mouthwatering recipes!!

Hi there friends!
It is finally Friday! Can I get an amen? These weeks lately have felt extra long even though I have been cutting back on outside activities and working on getting more restful sleep in my life. The week was pretty good overall, and I was able to accomplish several things each day on my to-do list. I have been posting some of the projects on my insta-stories. Check them out for some daily laughs 🙂

This week I have been really craving berries. Thank goodness our local grocery store had some great deals on berries! I think I ate through several containers by myself 🙂 Berries are so fresh and perfect as it has begun to feel like summer is breaking thought in the weather. By mid afternoons this week, we were hitting close to 90*! Bring on summer, swimming and all things outdoor eating!

I am linking up with my fav Foodie Friday gals, Farrah from Fairyburger and Annmarie from the Fit Foodie Mama for an eat what you want themed week.

Like I said, I have been ALL over berries the past week. The other night I also had a really strong craving for some cheesecake. I normally eat some sort of cheesecake with chocolate involved, but this time I wanted something more summery! Enter the berry swirl cheesecake. I used coconut sugar that simply enhanced the natural sweetness of the berries. It is not overly sweet, but it hits the spot just perfectly. I used lactose free dairy ingredients and it did not cause any tummy issues! I am SO happy about that! The crust is made with gluten free graham crackers. Paired with the berry cheesecake topping it just screams summer!

Place graham crackers in a food processor. Pulse till crumbs form. Pour crumbs into a med size bowl. Add in the coconut sugar and coconut oil. Mix until all ingredients are fully combined. Pour crumb mixture into the 8×8 dish and press firmly down, evenly covering the bottom of the dish.

Bake for 10-12 min. Remove from oven and set on a cooling rack.

While the crust cools, prep the berries and cheesecake filling.

Place the berries in a blender. Pulse till liquefied. Add sugar and pulse till mixed together. Strain the berry mixture through a mesh strainer into another bowl. Set aside.

Place the softened cream cheese into a bowl (use a stand mixer or a hand held mixer). Beat till smooth. Add in the sour cream, coconut sugar and vanilla extract. Mix well until combined and smooth. Add in each egg and mix on low until just combined.

Pour the cheesecake filling into the 8×8 pan with the prepped and cooled crust. Spread the filling to ensure it is distributed over the crust evenly.

Add small spoonfuls of the berry mixture on top, spacing it out slightly. Using a knife, swirl the mixture gently till the desired pattern is made.

Bake for 30-40 min, until the cheesecake is set.

Remove cheesecake and set on a cooling rack. Once it is fully cooled, place a lid on the pan and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Cut into bars and enjoy!

Make sure you check out all the amazing ladies and their awesome mouthwatering recipes!!

Hello friends and happy Friday!
I can not believe it is already the first week of May! The end of the school year is just around the corner and summertime is almost here!

I am linking up with my fav girls, Farrah from Fairyburger and Annmarie from the Fit Foodie Mama for a Spring Foodie Friday themed week.

Springtime reminds me of newness of life. New plants, new babies, a new season. Fresh perspective on life and trying new things for the first time or trying them again.
I have been receiving such beautiful sweet potatoes from my CSA lately and I wanted to break away from my typical roasted or baked sweet potatoes. I wanted to try some new techniques I had been reading about when roasting different veggies! A few of the ideas I first thought would be a little odd, but now I have been incorporating them into all my cooking and it has been making a difference!

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, washed

2-3 Tbsp avocado oil

Spices to taste- Himalayan salt, paprika, garlic

2 cups ice cubes

Directions

Slice sweet potato into thin slices then long stripes.

Place in an ice bath for 30-45 min. (helps remove starch to make them crispier)

Pre-heat oven to 425* and place baking sheet in oven to also pre-heat.

Once ice bath is finished, drain and dry off sweet potatoes.

Coat sweet potatoes with a very thin layer of avocado oil

Place on the pre-heated baking sheet leaving space between each fry.

Bake for about 30 min, flipping the fries half way through.

Turn off oven and let fries sit for 10 more min.

Remove fries from oven and sprinkle on spices to taste. I used tongues as the fries are still hot to touch.

Enjoy immediately!

Make sure you check out all the amazing ladies and their awesome mouthwatering recipes!!

I have to say I am happy it is May! April was not the best month. Nothing really major made it rotten (other than food poisoning), but overall a lot of little things just sucked me dry and left me depleted. When May arrived yesterday I breathed a slight sigh and took a look at what happened to April. I just want to pretend most of the month didn’t happen but that is not really possible, so here is to a MUCH better month.

April goals kind of went out the window after the first week so they almost all get a big F in my mind. But that is life sometimes. And failure isn’t always a bad thing if it gives me a boost and motivation to get back at it. I have learned over the years that I can take a stinky day/week/month and turn it into fuel to push me further for the next days/weeks/months to come. I allow myself a little wallow space then I jump back in it!

*Cut out more social media time
*Plan anniversary trip
*Send birthday gifts
*Enjoy time with friends before they move

House

*Guest room closet
*Linen closet *Plant garden

What actually happened

Fitness- C
I got in at least 3 workouts each week. Dealing with some pain in my hip and extreme fatigue really did a doozy on me this past month. It def takes a toll on my well being in general when I am fighting sleep issues and physical pain. Thankfully my hip has settled down a bit and I am in a better place for the start of May.

Health- C+
Again, lack of sleep causes me to have a lot more anxiety and then things stress me out more than normal. There were also a lot of really busy days where I didn’t get much downtime and those also tend to give me some more anxiety when I do get to sit down for a minute. I am still working on the eating plan (waiting for some materials to arrive). I was getting ready to make more changes when I came down with food poisoning. That is really just horrible! It took me almost a week to fully recover physically.

Relationships- B-
I have been doing a lot better cutting out social media time. I have not been as active on some sites as I used to be, and that is ok. I decided it is better for me to not be so focused on trying to post everyday and then try to reply to people the as quickly. I know some really rock it out with replying and that is amazing for them, but for me to de-stress more and have more quality time with those I want to be with in real life, I have cut back. I am working on plans for our anniversary trip! I came across 2 I was looking at and some of the information made me laugh! This one hotel would cost $20,000!!! Um NO! And another potential trip the travel time, including layovers, was over 50 hours each way. The Hubs would def not be happy with that. So back to the drawing board for that!

House- D-
Well, I have yet to plant my garden, I did not do anything for the linen closet except buy some new baskets and the guest room was a complete disaster until I threw everything back in the closet on Sunday when I thought an expected quest may need a place to sleep overnight!
Even thought it was not on my goals for April, I ended up redecorating our master a bit!

Before & After

So man, those are just a few areas that fell through the cracks during April. Looking back I was trying to figure out what went wrong. I am not fully sure yet, but I am starting over with some goals for May and giving myself some grace to work through whatever needs to be worked through 🙂

*Plan anniversary trip
*Plan trip to see family
*Enjoy time with friends before they move

House

*Plant garden
*Plan party for background singers to celebrate album

So I am dialing back a bit. Leaving some of the goals from April and also being more realistic with what I will have time for this month. The weekends have been pretty full and as much fun as that is, I need to get back to having a real rest day!